Guardian Angel
by Nitrowugs
Summary: Baby Connor has a new guardian angel.
1. Chapter 1

Guardian Angel

Author: Nitrowugs

Rating: PG for off-color words

Pairings: B/A, C/Gr, Fr/Gu, Li/We

Feedback: Please. Constructive criticism is always welcomed and appreciated.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything associated with BtVS and AtS. (Characters from the shows are borrowed with no infringement intent whatsoever.)

Distribution: Please ask and let me know where it's going.

Written: 08/03/2011

Summary: Baby Connor has a new guardian angel.

A/N1: Seasons 1 through 5 of BtVS happened with the exclusion of Dawn (I assumed that Buffy still jumped to her death) and AtS happened up through 'Dad' in Season 3 with some changes to show Buffy's presence. After this the story takes off with a mind of its own.

A/N2: I left out the idea of Buffy having to claw her way out of her own grave; that was just too traumatic for me.

A/N3: I also smudged the time line a little regarding baby Connor.

A/N4: Thoughts are in single quotes ('').

Chapter 1

Part 1

From above Buffy watched the happenings in Sunnydale and Los Angeles so she knew about what had happened between Angel and Darla and Darla's pregnancy. She was happy for Angel and she could just see the look on his face when he found out. She knew that he never thought he would have children; she would just prefer not to see Darla as the child's mother. 'That's selfish of me, I know,' she thought to herself; 'it's just that I wanted to be the mother of Angel's children.'

Her mother had cautioned her several times to let go of the life that she left behind and enjoy her current existence. "It can be quite pleasurable, Buffy, if you give it a chance. There is no limit to what you can do here, there are so many of your relatives here who are anxious to see you and your cousin Celia wants to come and visit when you're ready."

Buffy's reply was always the same, "I know, Mom, I just need a little more time to get adjusted."

She gave a deep sigh as she watched her friends in Sunnydale; out of the corner of her eye she saw someone approaching. "Buffy, you need to come with me, you're being paged," the messenger said when she reached Buffy.

She was surprised; this was the first time since she arrived that she had been paged by someone other than her mother. "Must be the welcoming committee," she chuckled.

"I don't think so," the messenger told her; "the page came from the Power that's in charge of earth's slayers."

"Oh."

Buffy followed the messenger quietly; she didn't know what to expect from the head slayer herself. She entered the chamber she was directed to by the messenger and found herself facing not one of the Powers but a panel of seven. The Power in the middle spoke. "Welcome, Buffy, we are happy that you are here."

"Thank you."

"We have an assignment for you, if you're interested. It involves helping one of our future warriors."

"I'm interested in helping earth's warriors in any way that I can." Buffy made what to her was the obvious assumption that her assistance would be from her current location. She certainly did not want to return to the hell that had been her life before she died. As she was soon to find out, things were not quite so simple.

"We want you to assist a future warrior that has not yet been born. He already has powerful enemies who seek to do him harm, including his own mother."

"What?"

The speaker waved her hand and a window appeared before them. "Behold."

Buffy saw and heard a very pregnant Darla speaking to a group of beings dressed in red hooded robes; she could not tell whether or not the beings were human.

"_Well, can you do it," Darla demanded; "can you get this thing out of me?"_

_After conferring among themselves, the leader spoke. "What you ask cannot be done. It cannot be done by anyone on earth. You must leave here at once and not return." With that the beings disappeared._

"_Just great," Darla complained as she waddled out of the room; "I am running out of options here."_

"She wants to abort Angel's baby?" Buffy asked as if the very idea of killing Angel's child was the most incredibly stupid thing she had ever heard.

"Yes," the seventh Power spoke for the first time, "and we want you to convince her otherwise. In addition to that, one of the child's parents' old enemies, Daniel Holtz, has bartered with death and time to come forth two hundred years to exact revenge. We want you to stop him as well."

"How much time do I have?" Buffy asked.

"The child will be born in less than a month and his father's enemy will take him to a hell dimension if you don't stop him. Are you still willing to take this assignment?"

"Absolutely." Buffy was never more sure of anything.

The Powers continued to detail Buffy's assignment and to provide her with the options available to her. However, according to them, her friends, who were not aware of what was going on in LA, had planned to attempt resurrecting her some time after the baby was due to be born. Since the Powers could not just send her back to earth, if it was necessary for her to return, they would have to allow Buffy's friends to think that they had succeeded.

This meant that Buffy had to convince Darla not to abort her baby and change the mind of a man hell bent on revenge or she would have to return to earth.

The Powers made sure that Buffy knew what was ahead of her. If she could not convince Darla and Holtz to change their plans concerning Angel's child while she was still in the upper realms and it was necessary for her to return to earth, then she would have to remain on earth and live out her life as a mortal. She would still have her slayer and angelic powers and she would still be the baby's guardian if she returned; however her angelic powers could only be used if needed to protect the child.

"No problem," Buffy said aloud, but to herself she thought, 'Oh, boy!'

Part 2

Buffy outlined her plan to her mother who thought the plan was sound. One of her concerns was that Buffy had to have her timing down exactly in order to save the baby from Holtz; time in the upper realms moved quite differently from time on earth and Buffy could not afford to make a mistake. Joyce was also concerned about Buffy herself, about the impact on her daughter should she have to return to earth. She knew that Buffy was still in love with Angel, she just didn't know how he would take her return, whether or not he was still in love with Buffy.

From her perch in the higher realms, Buffy followed Darla's actions closely and she was appalled at the extent to which Darla was willing to go to get rid of her baby. 'She is actually trying to kill the baby.'

She followed Darla and saw her as she approached a shaman's tent; a few minutes later she heard Darla tell the shaman, "Yeah, yeah, like I haven't heard that before. I guess there is only one thing left to do. I'll cut the damned thing out of me myself if I have to."

Buffy was standing outside waiting for Darla when she left the shaman. "Hello, Darla."

Darla was too shocked to speak, but she recovered quickly, "You! Slayer! Angelus killed me to save you; well he's not here to save you now."

All of the frustrations and anger of the past eight plus months overcame Darla as she vamped out and went after Buffy. She passed through the apparition and crashed into a tree. As she struggled to get up from the ground she asked, "What are you?"

Buffy gave a little smirk but did not answer her; instead she proceeded to tell Darla that she had to stop trying to kill the baby she was carrying because he was destined to be important to the world.

"Go to Angel; he will help you and the baby."

Darla was finally able to stand up. "I thought about it, but Angelus hates me; he tried to burn me alive the last time I was in LA."

"Angel is not a monster, Darla, you drove him to that; you know you did."

Angry now, Darla fired back, "I know that, so what? I just don't think he'll help me after all I did to him this time; plus, I've tried to kill his baby."

"You know better than that, Darla. All he has to do is see you pregnant, he'll know that the baby is his and there is no way he will not protect you; he would give his life fighting for you and his child."

"I tried to kill you, slayer; why are you helping me?"

"The child that you carry is destined to save the world. He will be a champion for the Powers That Be; there is no way for you to destroy him, the Powers will not allow it. So stop trying."

"But how can I give birth to him? What can I do?"

"You'll figure it out." Buffy smiled briefly as she disappeared.

End of chapter 1


	2. Chapter 2

Guardian Angel

Chapter 2

Part 1

Darla did as she was told; she went to Angel, but she did not tell him about her talk with Buffy. She still found it hard to believe that after every evil thing she had done that the Powers would choose her to carry their champion.

Knowing that her vampire body could not deliver a human baby, Darla committed what was probably her first selfless act in her very long life; she decided at the last minute what she would do to save her child's life. After asking Angel to make sure to tell the child that he was the one good thing that the two of them ever did together, she staked herself so that her baby would live.

In the meantime Daniel Holtz, the vampire hunter from the eighteenth century with a grudge to settle against Angelus and Darla, had made a deal with a time traveling demon named Sahjahn and now appeared in LA looking for revenge.

Part 2

Sometime after speaking with Darla, Buffy went looking for Holtz. She easily found him and his small band of vengeance seekers. They were not hiding. She saw Wesley leaving Holtz's house and wondered 'What are you up to Wes? You're supposed to be Angel's friend now, so why are you meeting with his enemy?'

Instead of staying to watch Holtz and company, Buffy followed Wesley. She saw his research on the prophecy stating that "the father will kill the son."

'Wesley thinks that Angel will kill Connor. Is he nuts? Angel loves that child.'

The same night that Angel realized he had been drinking blood that was spiked with his son's blood, he saw a soft light coming from Connor's room. He grabbed his sword and rushed into the baby's room only to find Buffy holding Connor and singing to him softly.

"Buffy?"

Buffy looked up from Connor. "Yeah. Hi, Angel. Looks like this little guy has a guardian; guess who it is?"

"Buffy?"

She smiled. "I thought we covered that."

Angel dropped the sword and reached for Buffy; his fingers went through her like thin air.

"You can't touch me Angel, only Connor can feel me."

She returned Connor to his crib and kissed him on the forehead as he yawned sleepily. "Time for beddy-bye," Buffy said as she watched Connor fall blissfully asleep.

Before she disappeared she turned to Angel and said, "I'll see you soon." Angel still looked stunned but a soft smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. He thought Buffy meant that she would visit Connor again soon, but that wasn't at all what she meant.

Later that same night Buffy appeared to Holtz in a dream (a nightmare really) and warned him to leave Connor alone. Even though he was afraid of what he thought was a spirit, Holtz was more determined than ever to take the baby from his father.

No matter what she tried, he would not be swayed, his mind was made up. He would repay Angelus by taking his son from him just as Angelus had taken his family centuries before.

The night before the planned abduction Buffy made one last try at Holtz. She did not want to harm him, but under no circumstance would she let him take Connor to a hell dimension.

Part 3

She had been concentrating so much on Connor and what was happening in LA that she was not keeping track of when her friends in Sunnydale would try their resurrection spell until her mother reminded her.

"Since you have not been able to convince the vampire hunter to leave the baby alone, the time for your departure may be rapidly approaching, Buffy. Because of the time differences between realms, it is difficult for us newcomers to track activities exactly."

"I know, Mom, I just hate to lose you again."

Joyce hugged her daughter. "You're not losing me, honey; I'll be right here when you return, no matter how long it takes."

"I know," Buffy said hugging her mother fiercely; "I'll just miss you so much."

Buffy did not interfere with normal activities in Connor's life, she did, however, watch Wesley and Holtz very closely and although she knew what Willow was planning in Sunnydale, she still hoped that she would not have to return to earth as a mortal.

She tracked the woman who stole Connor's blood from his doctor's office and learned that she was working for Lilah Morgan at Wolfram and Hart. She would take care of Lilah after she made sure that Connor was safe from Holtz.

Part 4

Plans seldom play out exactly as intended whether or not intentions are honorable.

The pieces of the fake prophecy came together and Wesley was convinced that his planned actions were justified; he would take Connor away, raise him alone if he had to, but he would not let Angel kill his own son. Just as he was heading for his car with the baby he was confronted by Justine, one of Holtz's soldiers, who tricked him, cut his throat, took Connor and left Wesley bleeding on the ground. She took the child to Holtz.

From the upper realms Buffy saw this and took off immediately.

In addition to Angel, Lilah Morgan and her men from Wolfram and Hart were also tracking Connor. She and Angel arrived at the same time blocking Holtz as he and Justine were attempting to escape with the baby. Sahjahn showed up and, after demanding that the baby be killed, opened a portal to Quor-Toth, the darkest of the dark worlds, as he described it.

Both Lilah and Holtz wanted the child alive, however Holtz held a knife to Connor's throat and threatened to kill him if Angel took one step closer to him.

"Take him," Angel told Holtz. He would rather see his son with his enemy than to see him dead or in the hands of Wolfram and Hart.

During the stand-off between Angel and Lilah's men, Holtz changed his mind at the last minute. Instead of killing Connor he turned and jumped into the portal to Quor-Toth. Buffy showed up just in time and snatched Connor from him just as Holtz jumped, leaving Holtz inside Quor-Toth as the portal started to close.

"You didn't really think I'd let you take him, did you?" she asked a startled Holtz as the portal closed leaving him trapped inside.

Holding Connor cradled against her with her left arm, she waved her right hand and in an instant Lilah and her men and Justine disappeared.

She turned to Sahjahn. "Go back to wherever you belong and stay out of our prophecies. Leave this child alone. If you come near him again, I'll put an end to your existence in a most unpleasant fashion."

"You can't kill me," Sahjahn bragged as he opened a portal for his escape.

"You want to bet?" Buffy asked as she closed the portal before he could leave. "Any portal you can open, I can close even faster. I can keep you trapped here until Connor is old enough to destroy you himself. Stay out of this dimension and maybe you'll get to live."

"Whoever you are, you don't order me; I go wherever I want."

"Really? You think Quor-Toth is bad," she asked before opening a new portal, "try one of its neighbors. From this one you will never return."

"Nooooo…." was the last thing she heard from Sahjahn before the portal closed.

Buffy handed Connor back to Angel, smiled at him briefly and said, "I am so going to miss this."

Angel held Connor close, so happy to have his son back again. "You saved him, Buffy. I can't tell you how much this means to me."

"I know, Angel; he means a lot to me too."

"Oh, Buffy." His voice was full of emotions as he spoke, but when he reached for her, once again his hand passed through her.

Buffy repeated her words to him that she had uttered when he first tried to touch her in Connor's bedroom, "You can't touch me, Angel; only Connor can feel me. I'll see you soon. I have others to take care of."

"BUFFY…" Angel called out with urgency as she started to disappear.

Buffy halted, looking at him with concern on her face.

"I love you, Buffy, and I miss you so much. Are you happy where you are? Please tell me that you are happy and at peace."

Instead of answering his plea, Buffy walked over to him and said, "I love you, too, Angel. When Connor is asleep tonight, I will come to you so that we can talk." She reached up and touched his cheek with her hand and even though Angel could not feel the physical touch of Buffy's hand, he felt the warmth and love of her touch as he had so many times before. He leaned into her touch relishing in the gentle warmth that he could feel from her.

"I have to go, Angel. I'll see you later tonight."

With that she was gone and Angel was left standing there holding Connor with mixed emotions. He was so happy to have his son back and that Buffy was his guardian, but he also missed her so very much.

When Buffy reached Wesley and saw the condition he was in, she knew that he would not live much longer if she didn't do something. At that moment she heard Fred and Gunn approaching. Quickly she touched Wesley and stabilized him enough so that he would not lose any more blood and would make it to the hospital alive. He would survive.

She could not heal him completely; she did not want him or his friends to know that she had saved him. Buffy knew that although Wesley had chosen the wrong course of action, his intentions were honorable; he was trying to save Connor's life.

Her last act for the day was to make sure that Justine went to jail; if she couldn't get her for kidnapping Connor, she could certainly get her for attempted murder. She put in an anonymous phone call to the LAPD informing them of Justine's location and what she had done.

The police found Justine tied to a chair in the house she had been occupying with Daniel Holtz; she still had Wesley's blood under her fingernails and the knife that she had used was on a nearby table. With Wesley's testimony, the police would have an airtight case against her. She was going to prison.

End of Chapter 2


	3. Chapter 3

Guardian Angel

Chapter 3

Part 1

Buffy returned to the upper realms and met with the Powers who gave her the original assignment. They were pleased with the way she had handled all of her tasks and saved the baby.

They offered her a reward.

At her discretion she could remain in the upper realms with them and continue as Connor's guardian, journeying to earth only when necessary to protect her charge or she could once again become mortal and live on earth as a human. They reminded her of their original conditions - if she decided to return to earth, she would still have all of her powers and she would still be Connor's guardian, but her angelic powers could be used only as needed to protect him.

Buffy was torn. Before giving the Powers an answer, she asked for time to consider her options before making a decision. The Powers were very understanding; they told her to take all the time she needed.

She then met with her mother and her grandmother to get their input before deciding upon a course of action. There would be no going back once she gave the Powers her decision. Together the three of them weighed the pros and cons of retaining her current immortal status versus the pros and cons of becoming human again. There was much to consider.

On one hand, she wanted to live on earth with Angel and Connor as her family, but she did not want to lose her mother again. She could protect Connor better if she could watch over him day and night, but then she would lose Angel. He deserved female companionship and she could not give him that if she remained immortal.

And what about the Shanshu prophecy? When he received his reward, he would want other children and she could not give him that either. Plus, it was not fair to him knowing that she could look down on him at any time and he could see her only when she came to visit his son.

On the other hand, if she became human, she and Angel still could not be together because of the happiness clause in the curse on his soul; but that didn't make any sense. Wouldn't the birth of his son have given him perfect happiness? She had never seen Angel so happy as when he was holding Connor.

More important than that, Connor was going to need protection during the daytime, when Angel could not go outside.

Could she forgo an intimate relationship with Angel for the sake of Connor's safety? Of course she could, but again Angel deserved female companionship and seeing him with someone else would tear her apart.

Then, her grandmother had a brain storm; there was another option that they had not considered. Why couldn't Buffy ask the Powers to make Angel human, in complete possession of his soul while retaining the positive physical characteristics of the demon? The Powers would still have their champion and together the two of them could keep Connor safe.

That was it then. That was the plan. Buffy hugged her grandmother and her mother and thanked them for their help and left to present her decision and her request to the Powers.

Part 2

Angel felt Buffy's presence when she entered Connor's bedroom later that night. The baby was sleeping comfortably with a slight smile on his face. When Angel entered the room, without turning around Buffy said, "He is such a sweet happy baby and with you for a father, he will grow up to be a fine man." She bent to kiss him on the forehead and Connor's smile grew bigger as if he too sensed her presence.

"He knows that you are here," Angel told her.

"Yes. He will always be able to tell when I'm near as long as I remain his guardian and he can call me at any time simply by saying my code name. No one else will be able to hear his words when he calls me."

"Come," Angel told Buffy as he led her to the visitor's lounge of his suite in the hotel. They sat facing each other on opposite ends of the comfortable leather sofa. There was so much that each wanted to say to the other and neither knew where to begin.

Angel waited patiently while Buffy worked things out in her mind. He did not know what she was thinking or what she wanted to discuss with him, but he could tell the very moment that she came to a decision. Her face lit up and he could see joy in her eyes.

When she finally spoke, she said, "Tell me, what are the things that you want most in the world, Angel?"

"That's easy. I want to be human so that I can marry you and you, Connor and I can be a family."

Buffy closed her eyes; when she opened them again, she was smiling. "You know me so well. That is exactly what I want, too; that is why I already asked my bosses to give you a gift in addition to the one they are giving me … and they agreed."

"W-What gift did you request for me, B-Buffy?" Angel could barely speak; all sorts of things were dancing through his mind and he was seeing a future filled with love and happiness, Buffy and Connor and other children.

Buffy watched the changing expressions on Angel's face; they were priceless. "You don't even know what I asked for and already you're making plans for the future?"

If Angel could've blushed, he would've had rosy cheeks right then.

"I don't know exactly when it will happen," Buffy told him; "all I know is that Connor will sleep through the night and when you wake up tomorrow morning, you will be human in complete possession of your soul and with the physical attributes that will allow you to remain a warrior for the Powers."

Angel was speechless and he had a look of disbelief on his face. After all this time he was going to be human. Then, it hit him, being human wouldn't mean much to him if he couldn't share it with her. "What gift did they give you, Buffy?"

"I'm being returned to earth as a mortal; I'm not sure when, but soon."

Angel couldn't believe it – all of his dreams seemed to be coming true at once. "Will you marry me, Buffy? When you're back, will you marry me?"

This time it was Buffy who forgot that only Connor could feel her physically. She seemed to be jet-propelled as she threw her arms around Angel's neck and wept tears of joy. As when she touched him earlier he could feel her warmth and love.

They shared a laugh when he asked, "Should I take that as a 'yes'?"

Now it was Buffy's turn to blush. "You should take that as a 'yes'."

They stayed together for most of the night, enjoying each other's company and getting reacquainted. Near the end of the night in the early pre-dawn, Buffy reluctantly rose and said, "Angel, there is something else that we need to discuss before we can face the future with a clean slate for both of us."

"What is it, Love? You know that you can tell me anything."

"Angel, you need to forgive Wesley for taking Connor."

Angel looked at her as if a stranger stood before him. He did not understand how she could possibly expect him to forgive someone who betrayed him the way Wesley had, someone that he had considered a friend. 'Wesley had just better be glad Buffy was able to save my son from Holtz. If that madman had taken Connor to Quor-Toth as he tried to do before Buffy showed up, then Wesley would be a dead man right now, because there is no way that I would've let him live.'

"I cannot believe you would even suggest such a thing."

"Regardless of his actions, his intentions were honorable, Angel. He was acting in the only way he thought he could to save Connor's life. It was never his intentions to turn your son over to Holtz; he was acting on false information found in a prophecy that he translated – a prophecy that said 'The father will kill the son.' He had no way of knowing that the prophecy was false. Then when the signs that the prophecy spoke about came true, he was terrified that the rest of the prophecy would come true as well if he didn't act, and act fast. He wasn't taking Connor to Holtz, he was taking him away from you."

"He should have known me better than that; he should have trusted me more than he did. Why didn't he speak to someone else about it? Didn't he trust anyone else here either?"

"I don't know, Angel, but knowing Wesley as you do, can you see why he acted the way he did?"

Angel stubbornly refused to answer her. Somewhere inside himself he knew that she was right, but he couldn't get over the hatred that he felt for Wesley at the moment. He looked up into her face. She truly was an angel; how could she still love someone like himself?

He saw her love for him in her eyes and his heart melted. He could not hold onto the hatred that he felt for Wesley and the love that he felt for Buffy with the same heart.

Buffy watched him closely. She saw his internal struggle with himself and she knew the exact moment that he let go of the hate in his heart and replaced it with forgiveness. It was as though a weight had been lifted from his shoulders and she could see the return of the peace in him that she had been enjoying all night.

"I love you." They both said at the same time and then both burst out laughing.

"Feel better?" She asked.

He smiled. "You always did have this effect on me."

They talked a while longer. She told him about the near-death attack Wesley had experienced was at Justine's hands and that Justine would be going to prison. "I hate to leave you, but there is one more stop that I have to make."

She kissed him goodbye and as she started to disappear he said playfully, "Ummm sweet angel kiss. I've never been kissed by an angel before."

"Better not," and her happy giggles were the last things he heard from her. He didn't know how long it would be before she returned to earth, but he would wait for her, no matter how long it took.

He looked in on Connor and saw him still sleeping peacefully. "Good night, son; when you wake up in the morning, your old man will be a living breathing human being." He returned to his bedroom, stripped down to his boxers and climbed into bed. 'My last night as a demon; thank you Powers in advance for giving me back my humanity and thank you for returning Buffy to me.' It dawned on Angel that this was probably the first prayer of thanks he had said in close to two hundred and fifty years.

End of Chapter 3


	4. Chapter 4

Guardian Angel

Chapter 4

Part 1

The next morning Buffy walked into Lilah Morgan's office without being announced.

"What are you doing here? How did you get in here?" Lilah demanded as she stood to face her intruder. She tried paging her secretary but got no response. She tried the silent alarm that called security, still nothing.

"You're wasting your time; no one's coming to your rescue," Buffy told her calmly.

Lilah's normal cool and calm exterior was shaken, but she tried not to let it show. "The slayer. I thought you were dead."

"Sometimes death doesn't live up to its press; sometimes it far exceeds it," Buffy told her, not explaining what that meant. "Here's the deal; in case you don't know it, it's a whole new ball game."

Buffy spoke with an Angelus-like sneer. "We're in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded and we're the home team, we may be three runs down, but guess who's at bat? I am; and I'm the best batter in the league. I suggest you let the game play out the way it was scheduled, because if I perceive any interference from you or anybody else, I'll obliterate your entire team, starting with your precious oblivious mother."

Lilah lost the ability to breathe, she stood there, staring, not believing what she was hearing, she whispered a strangled "Noo!" as she slowly sank back into the chair she had been sitting in when Buffy arrived.

"Whom did you think you were dealing with? This isn't Faith, the rogue slayer that you hired to kill Angel. You're dealing with _the slayer_, and I don't take prisoners. Stay away from Angel and stay away from Angel's son. If I have to return or if I hear of any foul play from your side whatsoever, there will be nothing left of you for anyone to send to hell. I've already acquired your contract from Wolfram & Hart. I own your ass until the day that I decide that you die. You got that?"

Still unable to speak, Lilah nodded briefly.

"Respond." Buffy demanded.

"Yes, yes I got it. There will be no more interference from us."

Buffy gave a little smirk; her face was as cold as steel but her eyes burned like the fire of a blast furnace. "I was sure that we would reach an agreement. Have a nice day." She turned toward the door, then halted, but did not turn around. "Oh, and Lilah, get rid of the surveillance devices." She walked out as silently as she had entered.

Lilah rushed to the door. Her secretary, Jennifer, was busy at her desk. "Why didn't you announce that woman before you let her into my office? Who was she? Where did she go?"

"I-I don't know who you're talking about, Ms Morgan," Jennifer stammered; "nobody's been in here all morning."

"Don't lie to me," Lilah yelled at her secretary, "A woman walked out of my office not ten seconds ago."

Jennifer was afraid now, afraid of Lilah Morgan and afraid of losing her job. She had been warned about her boss' temper when she was hired less than a week ago. She knew that if she showed fear, she would be booted out in a second and this job paid too much to lose. She looked directly at Lilah when she said, "I assure you, ma'am, no one has passed my desk since you did an hour ago."

Lilah huffed and returned to her office as Jennifer breathed a sigh of relief.

"What the hell is going on here? What was she, some kind of ghost?" She placed her elbows up on her desk and buried her face in her hands. "Get a grip, Lilah, there are no such things as ghosts and slayers do not return from the dead." She thought for a moment and remembered which slayer she was dealing with. "Well not often they don't. Someone or some thing blasted us away from Connor last night and dumped us into the lobby downstairs and that was no ghost; it was a powerful being that did that and I want to know who it was."

She straightened up in her chair and hit the call button for her secretary. Jennifer answered right away. "Get the head magic user up here now, I want to see him at once," Lilah barked.

"Right away, Ms Morgan," Jennifer's voice came over the line.

Less than five minutes later a young boy, Christopher, who looked to be about thirteen or fourteen years old appeared at Jennifer's desk. When he spoke she could tell by his tone of voice that he was much older than he looked.

"Ms Morgan has requested my presence."

After Jennifer made Lilah aware that he was there and told him that Ms Morgan would see him, Christopher stepped into the office and immediately stopped, startled. He looked first left then right as if scenting the air. When at last he spoke it was with reverence. "You have had a visitor."

"I know that," an annoyed Lilah growled. "What I want to know is the visitor's identity."

"A holy being, one of supreme purity and light."

Lilah stared at him as if not understanding until he spoke again.

"You have been blessed by the presence of an angel," he said simply.

"You have got to be kidding me."

He raised an eyebrow, indicating his indignation at the possibility that she was questioning his abilities, but he did not speak.

"Get out. And keep your mouth shut about this."

Christopher nodded briefly with the air of one whose superiority and importance were obvious, then left the room.

Lilah was already plotting her next action. 'If she's an angel that means that the Powers have noticed our meddling with their champion. Damn. I can't risk her going after my mother; I'll just lay low for a while – stay under her radar. I can't let the Senior Partners know about this. I'm already skating on thin ice as it is and I know that they are already aware of my screw-up in retrieving the vampire's child. I don't want to end up like Lindsey; I know there would be no one coming to get me out.'

A/N: I know that in canon the Lindsey episode had not taken place at this point. I just threw that in to show that Lilah knew the danger of going against Buffy now that Buffy owned Lilah's W&H contract.

End of Chapter 4


	5. Chapter 5

Guardian Angel

Chapter 5

Part 1

Angel awoke mid-morning the day following Connor's rescue by his guardian angel. He put his hand on his chest and a broad grin came automatically to his face; his heart was beating. He looked at the clock on his bedside table; it was past 10 am. and Connor should be awake by now. He rushed into his son's room only to find an empty crib.

'Lorne must have him downstairs,' he thought as he quickly threw on black sweat pants and a white T-shirt and headed downstairs. He became highly concerned when he could hear no sounds within the hotel. He rushed down the stairs to find the lounge area, kitchen and dining room empty.

Angel started to panic. "Lorne," he yelled. "Gunn."

Just then he heard a sound coming from the flower garden. He grabbed a weapon and rushed out the door only to find Lorne, Gunn and Fred surrounding Connor, who looked happily content lying on a blanket in the midst of them. Fred was the first one to notice him.

"Angel, the sun…" she yelled and the others turned to see what had Fred so excited. Angel was standing before them in bright sunlight with a sword in his hand ... and panting.

"He's breathing. Angel, what happened?" Gunn asked.

"Connor's guardian angel asked the Powers to restore my humanity and they did. I was made human overnight." Angel spoke as though he was telling them something as insignificant as the time of day. "I came downstairs and didn't see my son and I got worried." He put the sword inside the door and joined them on the blanket.

"Since we hadn't seen you at your usual time this morning, I went upstairs to check on the two of you. You were still sleeping, but Connor was awake, so I got him up, gave him a bath and his breakfast, and we decided to come out here in the garden so he could get some sun while you slept," Lorne told Angel.

"Who is Connor's guardian angel?" Gunn wanted to know.

"You'll love this," Angel said smiling; "it's Buffy."

"Buffy? The slayer is Connor's guardian angel? You are just full of good news today."

"Yeah. We talked last night after she saved Connor from Holtz and trapped Holtz inside what looked like a hell dimension."

"Serves him right. I hope he never gets out."

"Amen to that," Lorne replied as they heard someone enter the hotel; "two wonderful events in the last twenty-four hours. I don't know how much more good news I can handle."

Angel picked up Connor and followed his friends into the hotel just as he heard Fred squeal, "Cordy, you're back."

"What's this I hear about good newsss…Angel, what're you doing outside … in the sun? Okay, somebody start talking, now."

"Hey, Cordy," Angel said as he approached Cordelia to give her a hug.

"You're warm … wha…"

"I'm human, Cordy."

"What?" She hugged him again. "I'm so happy for you. When did this happen? How did this happen?"

"We were just getting the details when we heard you come in," Lorne told her.

Just as the group gathered in the lounge to hear Angel's story, Groo came through the door loaded down with bags and packages. "Princess, where do you want these?"

"Oh, Groo," Cordy said, embarrassed; she had forgotten about Groo. "Just put them down anywhere and come join us; next to my desk will be fine." She laughed nervously; "Angel has some news."

Angel proceeded to tell his friends everything that had happened regarding him and Connor, Wesley and Holtz, Sahjahn and Lilah.

He ended his story with "Before any of you say anything, I know that you all agree with Buffy; I should forgive Wes because he was doing what he thought he had to do to save my son." He hesitated. "And you would all be right; I agree with her too. When Wes is better and out of the hospital, I think we should all have a group session and talk about friendship and family, trust and loyalty; but not now, later."

Everyone agreed.

Fred couldn't stand it any longer so she turned to Cordelia and asked, "Cordy, I can't take it any longer; is that what I think it is on your left ring finger?"

"YES," Cordelia answered unable to control her excitement, "finally I get to tell my news: Groo and I are engaged; we're getting married at the end of the month."

There were more hugs and congratulations as Cordy and Groo explained their plans for the future. After the wedding they would be returning to Pylea where Groo would claim his position as ruler and bring new order to his home dimension with Cordelia by his side. Angel, Gunn, Fred and Lorne received this news with mixed emotions; they were happy that Cordy was happy and was getting married, but they were sad to be losing their friend.

"You're not losing me," she told them, "you can always come for visits. Just think, you'll be guests of royalty."

Part 2

In Sunnydale later that night Willow and the rest of the Scoobies prepared to perform a resurrection spell that they hoped would bring Buffy back. Unknown to them, Buffy was not in a hell dimension but in the higher realms where plans were already in place for her return to earth.

The spell was interrupted as demons approached the Scoobies and Buffy found herself outside the cemetery where she was formerly buried. She heard a commotion from within the cemetery and rushed in to see what was going on; there she found her friends being attacked by motorcycle riding demons. With her help they were able to defeat the demons and eventually return to Buffy's house on Revello Drive.

**A/N: I know this is not what happened on the show, but I just could not bring myself to describe the resurrection scene.**

Buffy did not seem to be as traumatized as her friends expected her to be; in fact she seemed very accepting of the fact that she "had been in a hell dimension" and was only safe at home now because of them.

It had been her intentions to allow them to continue thinking that, until she heard one of them complain that she should be at least a little grateful for what they had done for her. At that she asked all of them to come into the living room and sit down because she had something to say to them.

Just as she started to speak, Giles walked in and after greetings and hugs and tears she proceeded to explain everything. She stood before her friends; what she was about to say needed to be said, but she knew that it would be difficult for her to say and difficult for her friends to hear. They needed to know where she had been, how she was back and what her new purpose in life would be.

She started out by telling them how grateful she was for the friendship and support she had received from them since she arrived in Sunnydale and to have friends that were so concerned about her being in a hell dimension that they were willing to risk such powerful and dangerous magic to rescue her, but the fact is, she wasn't in a hell dimension.

She then proceeded to tell them where she had been and the people with whom she spent her time and why she was sent back. She was now the chosen guardian for one of earth's future champions and her responsibility was to him.

"When Faith is formally released from prison, she will assume her responsibility as the slayer on the hellmouth and I hope that you will give her the same level of support that you have always given me.

"I will be only two hours away by car and mere seconds by phone and we can get together often in LA. I say in LA because I must remain near Connor at all times. There are very powerful people who would do him harm, and as the Powers future champion, he must be protected at all costs."

She received varying reactions to what she told them. They were all glad that she had not been in a hell dimension; Willow and Xander were both happy to have their friend back however, Xander could not miss the opportunity to take a dig at Angel because as far as he could see the only reason she came back was so she could be with "deadboy". Anya was glad that the whole thing was over; Giles, Spike and Tara were just happy that she was back.

Part 3

Buffy moved her personal belongings from her house in Sunnydale to a small suite that Angel had prepared for her in the Hyperion Hotel. One of her first orders of business was to visit Wesley in the hospital. He was very surprised, but happy, to see her. After their conversation, he was relieved that Angel had forgiven him, but he felt it would be better if he did not return to the hotel.

After he was released from the hospital and was recovering nicely, the AI team members all crammed together in Wesley's small living room for a group session to talk about friendship and family, trust and loyalty as they had discussed the day that Angel became human. When the meeting was over, each one felt relieved and lighthearted; they were not able to convince Wesley to return to his position at Angel Investigations, but they were all friends again.

Angel had left Connor with Buffy at the Hyperion but promised Wesley he would bring the baby by for a visit very soon.

Regrettably, Wesley was not recovered enough to attend Cordelia's wedding, but via telephone he assured her that he would accompany the group when they paid their first visit to "Pylean royalty".

End of chapter 5


	6. Chapter 6

Guardian Angel

Chapter 6

Part 1

The demon community wasted no time in coming after Connor. Lilah made sure that the word was spread within the demon community that the slayer was dead and no new slayer had been sent to cover the hellmouth, but she was always careful that no one could see her hand in the mix; she could not allow even the suspicion that she was involved in any dirty dealings concerning Angel and his son.

Once they got wind of the information about the slayer and the hellmouth, droves of all sorts of demons began to flock to Sunnydale and LA. Most of them were not after the baby, the pull of a hellmouth unguarded by a slayer was too attractive to ignore.

Once in Sunnydale and they heard about Connor some just wanted to see the offspring of two vampires for themselves; some went after the baby because they were working for more powerful demons; some were just looking to make a name for themselves by claiming the life of the only human child in history to be born of two vampire parents and, of course, some were sent specifically by Lilah to retrieve the child.

The first attempt on the baby came while Angel and the AI team were visiting Wesley and Buffy and Groo were the only adults in the hotel. A shape-shifter posing as Angel entered the hotel and went directly after the baby. Unfortunately for him he was working on out-of-date intel; not only was the slayer back, but Angel was now human. The demon in Angel form ran into the hotel with a leather coat over his head.

"Give me my son," it demanded.

Buffy handed the baby to Groo and told him to get behind the counter.

"Slayer?" The demon looked surprised; "but I thought .. but she said that you were dead," he stammered.

"She who said I was dead?" Buffy started to ask, but changed her mind. "Don't even bother; I already know."

The fight was over almost before it started and the demon in its true form lay dead on the Hyperion floor. Connor had slept through the whole thing.

Part 2

Two hours later Lilah was worried. 'Where is he? He should be back here with the kid by now.' For the fifth time in the past half hour she buzzed her secretary to ask if anyone had tried to get in to see her.

When Jennifer answered "No, ma'am." for the fifth time, Lilah didn't like her tone of voice and stormed to the door to tell her so. When she found Jennifer hard at work with an ear phone in her ear and a look a serious concentration on her face, Lilah lost her bluster and returned to her own desk.

In the middle of her desk on fourteen by eight and a half inch paper in large bold print she found the words 'STRIKE ONE' accompanied by a picture of the dead demon.

'Oh, no! She knows. How did she get in and out of here so quickly? Oh gods, I've got to check on mother. I've got to know that she's all right,'

After being reassured by the personnel at her mother's care facility that her mother was still there and resting comfortably, Lilah breathed a sigh of relief until she once again assessed her situation.

'How am I supposed to do my job if she keeps interfering. Wait a minute, I've been going about this all wrong. She has friends in Sunnydale, the other slayer, Faith, is there, plus I know for a fact that Faith has been to see Wesley on more than one occasion. Let's just see how much help old Wes can be.'

Lilah renewed her friendship with Wesley, slowly at first. She knew about his strained relationship with Angel after the original incident with Connor that resulted in Wesley's getting his throat cut. She actually felt sorry for him.

'What is the matter with me? I cannot be developing feelings for this man; he is the enemy, a means to an end, that's all,' she kept telling herself, but deep within herself, in her heart of hearts, in a place that she had locked away so long ago with intentions never to visit again, Lilah had to admit that she did find herself drawn to Wesley in more than just a 'means to an end' sort of way.

'It isn't like he isn't a very attractive man; and what's the harm in having a little fun and at the same time taking advantage of a very valuable resource. I just have to stay below both slayers' radar, the dead one and the ex-con.'

Lilah was very proud of herself; she could still accomplish her original goals even if she no longer had the hidden surveillance devices in the Hyperion; the new devices at the house on Revello Drive were proving to be most interesting. Why hadn't she thought of this before. This was how she learned about the early efforts to get Faith out of jail and about Wesley's plans to move to Sunnydale as Faith's watcher as soon as he had recovered.

She also found out that Buffy was back on earth as a mortal and had taken up residence in the Hyperion Hotel.

'Well, well, doesn't she ever stay dead? The Senior Partners are not going to like this at all. The Powers are interfering again and I know it was their idea to return the slayer to earth. The Partners probably knew this all along; that's why they agreed to let her have my contract. There must be some prophecy regarding Connor; why else would the Powers go to such lengths to have him protected. The Partners haven't told me anything, so I'll just take a look for myself.'

Lilah hit the call button for Jennifer; when she answered, Lilah's voice was demanding and demeaning, as usual. "Contact the head research librarian; have him get me all of the information available on the son of two vampires. Do it now."

Jennifer was polite and efficient as usual. "Right away, Miss Morgan." She was already dialing the number for the librarian before she hung up Lilah's line.

Less than an hour later the information was on Lilah's desk. "What is all this?" she demanded as Jennifer put the last stack of papers on her desk.

"This is the information that you requested from the librarian, ma'am," her secretary answered politely.

"Get him up here now."

"Yes, ma'am."

"And stop calling me ma'am, dammit; my name is Lilah."

Jennifer nodded and left the office smiling. 'Score one for me,' she thought to herself.

The news from the librarian was not what Lilah wanted to hear. According to him, Connor was originally prophesied to fight and destroy the demon Sahjahn; however, when Sahjahn was confined to a hell dimension by the slayer, prophesies were rewritten and Connor was now predicted to fight alongside his parents in the End of Days battle for life on this planet and together they were expected to win because there are now new prophesies concerning Connor and his sibling destined to take place after the death of his parents.

The librarian ended by saying, "Prophesies are tricky things and are often dependent upon what occurs before the events of the prophesy itself are destined to occur. Of course no one knows when the prophesies regarding Connor are destined to occur since he and his parents are supernatural beings and could live a good long time. You have your work cut out for you, Miss Morgan. I don't envy you."

With that he rose and left Lilah's office.

'Supernatural huh? I don't care what they are, human, vampire, slayer, angel, I don't care. I will not let them put me in that hellhole and I will not let them harm my mother.'

Lilah was determined to protect herself and her mother no matter the costs. She was also determined to move up in the Wolfram & Hart organization. What she didn't seem to realize was that her two major goals were in direct conflict with each other.

End of Chapter 6


	7. Chapter 7

Guardian Angel

Chapter 7

Part 1

Angel called the Hyperion to let Buffy know that he and the others were on their way back after visiting Wesley. She told him briefly that they had had an unwanted visitor, but they were fine. Angel started to panic; he closed his cell phone and stepped on the accelerator. Everyone in the car noticed his action but Lorne was the first one to speak.

"Angelcakes, what is it? What has happened?"

"Someone sent a shape-shifter after Connor. Buffy stopped it; she said that they are fine. I shouldn't have left them alone."

Cordelia was adamant, "Angel, slow down. It only takes ten minutes to get to the hotel; if you wrap this car around a tree, it is going to take a whole lot longer. They weren't alone, Groo was with them; besides if Buffy said they are fine, then they are; now slow this damned car down."

"ANGEL!" Gunn yelled, his voice finally getting through to Angel who slowed the car down to eighty miles an hour but not less.

He dashed into the hotel lobby, almost falling over the demon's dead body. "Sorry I had to leave it there, I didn't want to leave Groo and Connor alone in case we had another guest from Lilah."

"Lilah is responsible for this? I'll just have to pay her a visit." Though Angel's voice was low and menacing everyone knew that his anger was not directed at them.

"Don't worry, Angel, I have plans for Lilah." The smirk on Buffy's face told them much more than her words did and they knew that Lilah would forever regret what she had done.

Part 2

Two days after her botched attempt to retrieve Connor, Lilah paid a visit to Wesley; she carried flowers and a wrapped gift.

He was more than surprised to see her when he opened the door, but he let her in.

"What are you doing here, Lilah?"

She seemed genuinely distraught over his condition and tears came to her eyes. "I-I heard … I.. Oh, Wesley ..." She let the tears roll down her cheeks.

Wesley was more than shocked at her behavior, but he was completely convinced that her concern for him was genuine. He took the gifts from her, put them on a nearby table and held her as she cried.

Lilah pulled away from him, embarrassed by her actions; she turned away in an effort to pull herself together. "I'm sorry; I don't know what came over me; I just…I'll go...I..."

"Don't go," Wesley said almost urgently; "let me get you a cup of tea."

When he left the room, Lilah smirked inwardly, 'Now tell me that performance wasn't worthy of at least an Emmy nomination.'

And so Lilah's plans for Wesley were working. She charmed her way back into his life and his bed before he knew what was happening. He kept reminding himself that this was the same Lilah that had been after Angel since he arrived in LA, but he convinced himself that with him she was different, she had no hidden agenda, she loved him.

By the time he was recovered enough so that he could move to Sunnydale and assume responsibilities as Faith's watcher, everyone, even Faith, accepted her as Wesley's girlfriend and did not question Lilah's presence every few weeks at Buffy's house on Revello Drive. Of course the Scoobies didn't know the extent of Faith's earlier involvement with Lilah and no one told them about it.

Unknown to anyone else Lilah had surveillance devices planted in various places in the house as she formerly had at the Hyperion and through that she gained invaluable information about Angel, Connor and the Slayer. She found out, for instance, that Angel was now human and that the slayer was back on earth and living at the Hyperion.

'I wonder how long the slayer has been back. I bet she is the reason I didn't hear anything from the changeling that I sent to get the kid. I can't let Wesley know that I was involved in that. I wonder if I can get him to contact Angel, just to see how things are going. It's a risk, but I have to get that kid; the Senior Partners are breathing down my neck again. I can't afford to slip up again.'

Part 3

In LA Buffy, Angel and the rest of AI were successful in thwarting all attempts from demons (and a few humans) at kidnapping or causing harm to Connor, but Buffy was worried. She approached Angel one day and voiced her concern.

"Angel does it seem to you that things have been too easy for us in protecting Connor? I would have expected an all-out assault against us from the demon community and certainly more than that one attempt from Wolfram & Hart. I can't help but feel that something is in the works and I want to know what it is."

"I know what you mean, but I haven't heard of anything and neither has Lorne. Do you think it's time to pay Lilah another visit?"

"Maybe, but before I do, I want to contact Sunnydale again to see if they've heard anything. I know that Faith would've called if she suspected anything, but just in case."

What Buffy learned when she spoke with Faith chilled her to the bone – not only was Wesley seeing Lilah, but she was paying regular visits to him at Buffy's house and Wesley was currently in LA for the day.

'That woman has the nerve of a brass-assed monkey. I have been too lenient with her; it's time I changed the rules of the game.'

Part 4

Buffy waited until Wesley left Lilah's house that evening; as soon as Lilah closed her front door and turned around she found herself face to face with a very angry slayer.

"H-How did you get in here? How do you keep doing that?"

Without answering her questions Buffy got right to the point. "I warned you to let the game play out as it was scheduled and I told you what would happen if I perceived any interference from you. You didn't listen. I gave you a warning 'STRIKE ONE'. You still didn't listen. You are using Wesley to acquire information about Connor; that's strike 2. You have planted surveillance devices in my house; that's strike 3, which loses you your turn at bat."

With each word she spoke Buffy took a step closer to Lilah; her voice was threatening, daring Lilah to move. "You have had the nerve to **enter my house**. That move puts you out of the game, Lilah. I suggest you go visit your mother; this may be the last chance you get."

Lilah thought that meant that Buffy was going to kill her mother.

"Nooo," Lilah wailed. She grabbed her purse and dashed out the door unmindful of the fact that she was still wearing her robe with nothing underneath.

She broke every speed limit between her house and the care facility where her mother was institutionalized. Ignoring the nurses at the front desk, she ran to her mother's room. There was nobody there. "MOTHER," she yelled as she ran into the hall checking various rooms for her mother.

An attendant heard her and when he saw her state of panic asked, "Miss Morgan, what is wrong?"

"Where is my mother?" she demanded.

"Did you check with the front desk?" the attendant asked and, with as little force as possible, he guided her back to her mother's room.

"No I didn't check with the front desk, my mother is always in her room...," then realizing what the attendant was doing, she demanded, "What do you think you're doing, let go of me."

"Now Miss Morgan, you know that all patients are required to be in their rooms by eight pm."

"Then why isn't my mother in this room."

"Now, now Miss Morgan, this isn't your mother's room, this is your room. I'm sure that your mother will be back for her weekly visit very soon, but I believe she said she was taking a short vacation."

"No no no, this isn't right; this is all wrong. Get the front desk right now."

The attendant was really getting worried about Lilah. He pressed the number one on the panel beside the door which called the front desk. The nurses at the desk could hear Lilah's screams over the phone and two of them headed for her room as another nurse pressed the emergency call button.

The emergency attendants got to the room first; when the nurses arrived they found three attendants trying to restrain Lilah. "What happened?"

"I don't know," the first attendant replied, "I found Miss Morgan in the hall yelling for her mother."

"I was afraid of this; I have been concerned about something like this happening ever since Mrs. Morgan left for vacation. I know that she needed a break from this place; she hasn't taken a week off since she first brought her daughter to us three years ago. Miss Morgan has been making such good progress since Mr. Wyndham-Price started visiting. Does anybody know what caused this setback?"

When the only response to her inquiry was a sad shaking of heads from the others in the room, the nurse said, "Restrain her. I'll give her a mild sedative to calm her down; maybe she'll be more coherent in the morning."

A/N – I have no medical training whatsoever and I do not know if this is how this situation would be handled in an actual emergency. I apologize if this description of events offends anyone.

Lilah lost her ability to speak, but she still fought as the sedative was administered.

As soon as everyone left her room Buffy appeared. Lilah's eyes widened when she saw the slayer. She couldn't speak, but Buffy could read her thoughts.

"YOU. You did this. Get me out of here," Lilah raged in her mind.

For long moments Buffy walked around the room pausing briefly at various items before she spoke. She turned to look at Lilah and said, "You should have heeded my warning. Now look at you; where is the mighty Lilah now?"

"What have you done to me?"

"I have caused you to switch places with your mother; she now occupies your office at W&H and you are a patient here. Goodbye, Lilah," Buffy said as she started to disappear.

"No, no, don't go; don't leave me here, please, pleasssseee," was the last coherent thought Lilah remembered. She found herself lost in a sea of meaningless thoughts and images as actions she had taken since selling her soul to W&H played over and over in her mind. When she awoke the next morning she didn't remember who or where she was. All she remembered was her last conversation with Buffy and the sight of an angel as it disappeared.

End of Chapter 7


	8. Chapter 8

Guardian Angel

Chapter 8

Part 1

Buffy paid a visit to Lilah's mother, Lilian, who was now in charge of 'Special Projects' for Wolfram and Hart. The slayer wanted to see how Lilian would respond with so much power at her disposal, plus she wanted to make sure that Lilian was not involved in any plots against Connor.

Lilian's reactions both surprised and pleased her. When Buffy showed up in her office and identified herself, Lilian recognized the name.

"You're the slayer, right? I've heard talk around the office about you. It is a pleasure to finally meet you," Lilian said with a smile as she extended her hand to Buffy.

"I also heard about all of the threats against baby Connor and I want you to know that if you need help in protecting him, I would be happy to send a W&H security team to support you; after all, they report to me."

Buffy was really surprised now. "You would do that?"

"Wolfram and Hart may be Angel's enemy, but I'm not; and I'm certainly am not the enemy of an innocent child.

"Besides, I never signed a contract with this company; that was my daughter. I warned her when she was hired not to do it, but she was so ambitious she wouldn't listen to me. I took the job working as her assistant to keep an eye on her, to try to keep her safe.

"When she got sick three years ago, they offered me her position; I took it so that I could afford to provide the necessary care for her. I would never commit my life to this company, or any company for that matter, I don't care how much they paid me. In the end it would not be worth it."

Apparently Lilian didn't know that Lilah had done more than commit her life to Wolfram and Hart; Lilah had in fact sold her soul to them; now her only way out was through Buffy, who owned her contract.

Buffy and Lilian talked for a few minutes more. In the short time that she was there, she learned a lot about Lilian and Lilah that she did not know before. She learned, for instance, that Lilian was not aware of the evil that was Wolfram and Hart, that she simply (or naively) thought this was a very successful law firm with clients all over the world and, for some reason, they did not like Angel; she also learned that Lilah really was in love with Wesley.

She declined Lilian's offer to use a W&H security team to help protect Connor with the excuse that she did not want to get Lilian in trouble with her bosses. Buffy reasoned that even though she felt she could trust Lilian, she knew she could not trust the W&H security teams, who were the same people who worked with Lilah in her failed attempt to capture Connor once before.

With that concern out of the way, she could now concentrate on the current threat against the baby.

Part 2

Buffy had been right about things being too easy for them in protecting Angel's son and about an all-out assault against them from the demon community. Apparently some very powerful shaman with whom Master Ness had crossed swords centuries earlier was hellbent on revenge and since this was the first human child born from vampires, particularly vampires that were both direct descendants of Aurelius himself, he knew the power that such a human would possess and he wanted to harness that power for himself.

The fact that the ritual required to harness such power would kill the subject was a plus in his mind. To him if he was successful, this would make him the most powerful human being on earth and once again allow him to extend his lifeline. 'I shouldn't need to perform this ritual again for centuries, plus it would more than compensate for my humiliating defeat by Ness. I told him I would never forget; too bad the old rat-faced bastard isn't around to see my revenge.'

Two demon clans and a hoard of vampires joined together with the shaman in a planned attack on the Hyperion to get the baby. Fortunately though, Lorne read the plans for the attack when one of the demons got drunk at Caritas and decided to sing. Lorne knew that it was breaking the rules when he told Angel what he had read from the demon, but after all, this involved the life of one of the Powers' future warriors.

According to the information supplied by Lorne, the demon that he read and his family were long time servants of the shaman and, other than the shaman himself, only they were aware of the Longevity Spell that the shaman had perfected and had been using for many centuries to keep himself alive and youthful.

Giles had heard of such a spell but he had been assured by the Watchers' Council that it was a myth, that no such Longevity Spell actually existed that did not turn the human into a demon. An example of such a spell is the one that D'Hoffryn used to turn humans into vengeance demons.

The more information they were able to gather about this threat, the more concerned Buffy and Angel became. They knew that they would need help and a lot of it if they were going to be successful against this shaman.

Even with her angelic powers, Buffy knew that she could not kill a human being. The guilt she felt over Lilah was bad enough. 'I'm still not finished with her, but right now I just have to concentrate on eliminating this current threat against Connor'.

Angel had Spike contact Drusilla and Penn knowing that Spike was not on good terms with either of them; he just hoped that clan loyalty still had meaning to his childer.

He was right – not only did Dru and Penn answer his call for help, but each brought a full cadre of minions and other loyal followers that were more than willing to fight along side Angelus and the slayer. To the demon community Angel was Angelus whether or not he had a soul. Perhaps they thought this would garner them some points at a later date.

The Scoobies, including Faith, also joined them and since Wesley still was not one hundred percent, Angel insisted that he stay at Caritas with Lorne and Fred to protect Connor. After they delivered the baby to Lorne, the first thing Buffy did was to mask the sound of Connor's voice so that the sound of a baby crying could not be heard from the outside. She then put wards around the club that prevented anyone other than herself and Angel from entering and reinforced the current protection spells supplied by the Furies that prevented violence within the club.

Lorne posted a 'Closed for Renovation' sign on the club and since they were the only ones that knew that Connor was not in the hotel, they were not concerned about his safety once the wards were in place. The club had already been stocked with enough food and supplies to last several weeks.

Part 3

Giles, Willow and Tara worked to counter the Longevity Spell, but so far they had been unsuccessful in finding any details about the spell that would help them. "I don't know what it is, but if I can get close enough to him, I might be able to feel what he is doing in the spell," Willow told Buffy.

"That is too dangerous, Will; we can't risk letting you get that close to him. From what we have learned about this guy, he will stop at nothing to accomplish what he sets out to do. We already know that over his lifetime he has murdered countless human beings by draining their life essence in order to keep himself young. That tells me that he would not hesitate to kill you if he perceived you to be a threat."

Giles and Tara agreed.

Angel spoke up. "Besides, we can't afford to wait that long. We need to stop this guy before he starts the ritual; we don't know at what point it will start to impact Connor or even if he needs to be near the baby for his spell to work. He might have something that will work without being in Connor's immediate vicinity."

The others looked up, startled at Angel's words; however, they knew that he was right. They did not have near enough information about this shaman.

"Too bad we don't know of anyone who might've been around when the ritual was actually performed," Angel continued.

Buffy, Giles, Willow and Tara all spoke at once. "ANYA."

"Of course," Giles berated himself for not thinking of her before. "An eleven hundred year old ex-vengeance demon could actually be a wealth of information."

"I'll call her at the Magic Shop," Willow volunteered as she left the room. When she returned, she said, "Xander is driving up here after he gets off work this evening; Anya will come with him."

After much discussion, they decided on a contingency plan in case Anya could not supply sufficient information about the shaman. The plan involved capturing the shaman's demon servant, drilling him for information about the shaman and then removing the encounter from the demon's memory.

Xander and Anya arrived at the Hyperion Hotel just before seven pm, just as the combined teams were concluding their plans for the shaman's servant. When the newcomers heard about the plan, Anya's first words were, "We just have to hope that his master cannot detect the magic that we use on the demon."

They all agreed; they had to be extremely careful.

Part 4

As it turned out Anya did indeed know of the shaman, in fact she knew him personally. "Before he became this powerful shaman, he was simply Eero, a loser, a person that no one wanted to be around. Do you believe he actually thought I was interested in him? Pffft. The next thing anyone knew he had left our village swearing he would get revenge on everyone that had rebuffed him.

"It was hundreds of years later when I saw him again. A female had wished to have her husband, Tove, cursed for deserting her and their children, leaving them without a word. Tove had been missing for weeks when I was summoned and I discovered that he had not willingly left his family; he had been taken against his will, by Eero, who was using him to fuel a ritual to extend his own life.

"I was too late; the ritual was almost over. Tove's body was literally being torn apart, shredded, before my eyes and it was obvious that this process had been going on for the weeks that he had been missing. As Eero finished his chanting, he was transformed back into the young man that I remembered. He looked exactly the same.

"When he saw me, he recognized me and knew immediately what I was. He pointed this weird looking talisman at me and started mumbling in some language that I did not understand, but I knew what he was trying to do. He was trying to use me to fuel the ritual again. I just laughed at him. Did he really think he could use a vengeance demon to extend the life of a human?

"Once he saw that it wouldn't work, his only comment was, "It was worth a try." According to him he had spent the prior centuries perfecting the secret of living forever, but he had to perform the ritual over and over again because of inherent human weaknesses.

"The fact that he wants to use Connor in his ritual tells me that he is desperate. A normal human would only extend his life a few decades, but considering Connor's heritage, using him to fuel the ritual, Eero could extend his lifeline for centuries.

"I suggest you find Eero before he starts the ritual. It must start and end on successive full moons. I suggest that you find him before he starts or Connor will die a slow agonizing death."

By the time Anya finished speaking the only sounds heard in the room were sobbing from various ones in the group.

Giles spoke up and asked, "Anya, is there any way to reverse the effects of the ritual? Any way to take away the stolen life essences that Eero has within himself?"

"I think there is, but you would have to get that talisman away from him. Let me contact a friend of mine who would know. I'll let you know what I find out tomorrow."

Xander spoke up. "I know this is stating the obvious, but it is less than two weeks before the next full moon. In that time we have to insure Connor's safety, get the talisman from Eero and figure out how to use it against him.

"When we capture his demon servant, why don't we have him make the switch?"

"I'll take care of getting the talisman and replacing it with a fake," Buffy told them. "I just need to know where he keeps it so I can limit my time in his presence. If he is as powerful as we think he is, he might be able to sense that I am there."

In the midst of concern over protecting Connor, Cordelia and Groo decided to postpone their wedding until the current threat had been eradicated.

When Anya and Xander returned the next evening, she had the information they needed. According to another one of her vengeance demon friends, once the talisman was destroyed, the stolen life essences would be freed. Of course that would not help all of the people Eero had killed over the years, but it would prevent him from killing anyone else and it would destroy him as well. His own life essence ceased to exist centuries ago; it is the stolen life essences of others that keep him alive. Without those essences he would immediately die.

Part 5

Capturing the shaman's demon servant was easy. It seems that he was hooked on Caritas, so when he showed up and saw Lorne's 'Closed for Renovation' sign on the door, he was so disappointed he was not paying attention to himself and walked right into a trap. When he came to, he found himself bound to a chair in the middle of a small room surrounded by people, most of whom he did not recognize.

"I know you're telepathic," Buffy told him, "so don't even think about trying to contact your master; you'll be dead before you complete the first thought."

The demon nodded. "I am Cibor. What do you want from me?"

"I want you to tell us anything you know about your master that will help us stop him."

"I cannot. I have sworn an oath; if I break my oath he will destroy my entire clan, starting with our youngest. We are powerless against him."

"Why is that?"

"He holds our young captive away from us until they have reached an age when they will be useful to him. If we go against him in any way, he will destroy them first, then us. Centuries ago, our elders made a deal with Master Ness to help him destroy Eero in return for our freedom. Ness betrayed us. He was satisfied with humiliating Eero by defeating him in front of everyone. He then left us at Eero's mercy."

His face contorted in hatred and anger. "Mercy indeed. He made the rest of the clan watch as he killed every infant and every elder in front of them, just to prove that he could. No one has betrayed him since."

"He's a monster," Buffy said; "he must be stopped. If you will help us, I give you my word, we will destroy him and free your people."

"I..."

"Look at me," she demanded; "See Me." She allowed the demon to see her angelic side.

"YOU," he said in alarm; "you're the one who imprisoned the time traveler."

"Yes."

"I know that I can trust you," he said simply; "I will help you, but you must be very careful; Eero can always sense the presence of good."

"I know. Tell us what we need to do."

Cibor laid the whole thing out for them. Eero's power comes from the talisman that he carries. If he is separated from it for more than a day he will begin to age. The talisman will kill any living being that touches it.

"That means that Spike will have to get it away from him," Angel said.

"No. That applies to vampires as well. The body that a vampire inhabits may be dead, but the demon inside is not. Only a holy being can touch it without being injured."

He looked at Buffy.

"If you have maintained your angelic powers, that will be enough to destroy the talisman, but because you are now human, your human side will suffer harm if you touch it. I don't know to what extent.

"Eero has it spelled to kill if anyone other than himself touches it; he never encountered this problem before because he never expected to find an angel on earth. He is aware of an extraordinary power protecting the child, but he doesn't know what it is. He knows that you are a slayer; he does not suspect other than that."

As it turned out, Eero had a history of tracking Ness' childer; he came to the US as soon as he heard that Darla was pregnant, fully expecting her to seek out Angelus. He simply moved into the home of one of Hollywood's movie stars that he knew to be out of the country.

Cibor gave them the details of Eero's daily schedules. It seemed that he never followed the same routine on consecutive days or weeks.

"He's paranoid," Giles said.

"And very clever," Cibor added.

"He's not clever," Anya scoffed; "he's still the loser he always was. He's just living off stolen life essences and we're going to put a stop to it."

Part 6

After Cibor had told the group all the useful information he knew regarding Eero, he was returned to the same location where he had been captured and Willow performed a spell that caused him to forget his encounter with them and removed all trace of the magic used.

She, Tara and Giles had worked long on the spell and were confident that it would work. Cibor continued on his way back to the shaman's house thinking, 'Caritas was great fun tonight; I'll have to visit again once the renovation is complete.'

Using the information they got from Cibor, the group put the finishing pieces of their plan into place. They still did not know when to expect the attack by Eero's army on the Hyperion, so they had to be ready. Connor's nursery was spelled so that, to anyone using magic to search for him, he would seem to be there.

Two nights after their encounter with Cibor, Drusilla surprised them all when she went into one of her trances and started to whine.

"Dru, what is it? What do you see?" Spike asked her.

Dru continued to whine. "The mean man is coming...he is coming tomorrow night. He wants to harm my little brother. Don't let him, Daddy," she pleaded with Angel; "don't let him take my little brother from us."

"Don't worry, Dru. We won't let him get near Connor," Angel assured her.

Then, with Buffy by his side, he addressed the group gathered in the hotel.

"Eero's attack on this hotel in an effort to capture Connor, my son, starts tomorrow tonight. The child must be protected at all costs."

He looked at each group assembled, particularly the vampires and demons that had come with Drusilla and Penn. He then took Buffy's hand and said solemnly, "We wish to thank you for your support; we will not forget."

The plan was for Buffy to retrieve the talisman, Giles and the witches would spell another to look and feel like the original and Buffy would return the fake. They waited until they knew Eero would be asleep before acting. The entire process took less than ten minutes.

The hotel had three major entrances and several balconies to suites which had been spelled to prevent entry. From inside Giles, Willow and Tara guarded the three doors, ready to stop anyone who sought to use magic to get in.

As soon as the sun set vampires and demons surrounded the hotel expecting to attack all entrances at once. Eero stepped forward. "Do not let anyone escape alive, especially Angelus and the slayer," he told them and then disappeared.

Before they could act, the demons found themselves fighting for their lives as they were attacked from behind by a determined group lead by Angel, Spike, Faith, Drusilla and Penn.

After Eero disappeared he reappeared in the hall outside Connor's nursery.

As he reached for the doorknob, he heard, "What took you so long? I've been waiting for you."

He spun around and came face to face with ?an angel?

"Who are you?" He demanded as he reached for his talisman, only to have it disappear from his hand and reappear in the angel's hand.

"Give that back. It's mine."

"No. It's not." Buffy said as she pulled out the real talisman by its chain. "This one is yours. Now call off your dogs before I destroy it."

"All right. All right," he said nervously. Then more boldly he yelled, "Cease."

His voice echoed throughout the building and outside. The offending demons immediately stopped what they were doing. They looked confused as one of them called to his brother, "What is going on? What are we doing here?"

He then saw Spike and asked, "Spike, you want to tell me what is going on here?"

"Well, mate, you and your friends were attacking this hotel trying to get at Angelus' kid."

"No we weren't. My clan came to LA because we heard about the child. We came to pay homage, then we ran into this shaman or whatever he was and … I don't remember anything else."

"It's true, Spike," a nearby vampire spoke up.

Spike was surprised to see that he recognized the vamp. "Claud, is that you? It's been ages."

They embraced each other as Claud said, "Half a century, at least. That Eero did something to us. I would never attack Angelus' kid. You think I have a death wish?"

By this time it was obvious to the defenders that their attackers were all in a similar state of confusion. "Let's get inside," Angel called out and inside Giles and the witches removed the wards on the doors.

They found Eero suspended in midair in the middle of the Hyperion's lobby with Buffy glaring at him. Anya found this so amusing. "Well Eero," she said trying not to laugh, "we meet again."

"Y-You," he stammered; "you turned against me?"

"Dumb Eero," Anya laughed, "I was never with you."

By now Eero had been without his real talisman for nearly twenty-four hours and he was beginning to feel the loss. "Return my property to me," he demanded.

Ignoring his demand, Buffy said, "First tell me where Cibor's kinsmen are being held."

"Why? What are they to you?"

"Innocents."

She called Cibor forward and touched his temple and Eero's temple at the same time. Cibor gasped, then exclaimed, "I know where they are! I will contact the elders at once."

"So what? I can always get more servants. Now return my property to me," he demanded again; "you promised."

"Pffft. No, I didn't. What I said was, "Call off your dogs before I destroy it." I never said I would return it. You'll never get this back."

Eero started to panic. "You must give it to me, I need it for my health. Please. Return it now."

It was obvious to all that he was beginning to weaken.

Angel stepped forward. "I'll take care of that for you," he told Buffy as he took the chained talisman and with one swing of the blunt end of his battle axe, the talisman shattered into dust.

Eero let out a scream as he, too, crumbled into dust.

"I have to say," Xander told Anya, "I've never seen a human being do that."

"Neither have I," his girlfriend replied, "and I hope I never see it again."

Part 7

The Hyperion was overflowing with vampires and other demons. Those that had been under Eero's power were relieved to be free again. "We were bringing gifts for baby Connor," one of the clan leaders told Angel, "but I don't know what happened to them once Eero took control of our minds."

Cibor stepped forward. "I think I know where they are. If some of you will come with me, I will show you where your property is."

Two hours later the ballroom of the hotel was filled with gifts of all sorts, including jewels and precious metals. Some of the gifts were promises of protection and servitude for Connor's lifetime.

"May we see the child before we depart?" one of the clan leaders asked.

Angel gave Buffy a nod and in no time at all she was back with Connor, Lorne, Wesley and Fred.

Oos and aahs and "He looks just like you, Angelus" and other words of praise were heard around the room. No one had ever seen Angel smile as much as he did that day.

Connor smiled and gurgled through all of the attention. He fussed very little; he knew that his father and his guardian angel were close by.

End of Chapter 8


	9. Chapter 9

Guardian Angel

Chapter 9

Part 1

As expected Cordelia and Groo were the last ones to leave the hotel. With all of the demons that had been coming and going during the past few weeks, there was still a concern for Connor's safety. Maybe Angel and Buffy were paranoid, but they did not completely trust those who came with Penn and Drusilla to protect the baby. Truth be told, Buffy didn't trust Drusilla herself; at times the vampiress seemed completely sane, while at other times she seemed to be so far out in left field as to be completely out of the realm of sanity.

Things were quiet tonight, too quiet for Buffy's liking. Even with Gunn, Fred and Lorne staying in the hotel, she still felt uneasy leaving Connor alone in his nursery, so Lorne agreed to sleep in Connor's room for the night. She and Angel had not had much alone time since she moved to LA and they were looking forward to tonight.

She was about to join Angel in his suite when she heard what sounded like hundreds of footsteps downstairs. Angel had also heard the noise because he reached the top of the stairs that led to the hotel lobby just as Buffy was half-way down.

They found Cibor, half a dozen other demons and what looked like at least two hundred younger demons ranging in ages from infancy to maybe early teens.

Cibor spoke directly to Buffy. "Forgive our intrusion, please. These are the elders of my clan," he said pointing to six obviously ancient beings who bowed gracefully before her, "and these are the young ones that you freed from Eero's prison. We wish to thank you and to make you a promise."

The group spoke as one in Buffy's mind. "For as long as our clan shall exist, we pledge our loyalty and protection to you, young Connor and all of your descendants."

One of the elders spoke aloud. "We will not be seen by you unless you require our presence, but we will always be near to protect you and you will forever have our gratitude."

Without another word, the group bowed as one, turned and left the hotel.

Buffy still stood there as Angel joined her on the stairs. "Buffy, what ..."

"They're all telepaths, Angel, even the infants. They all spoke to me. They promised to protect Connor and me and our descendants for as long as their clan exists."

"Gods, Buffy, do you realize how long that could be?"

"Yeah. Some of their elders looked to be nearly as old as Ness was."

"Well, it looks like we won't have to worry about the safety of our descendants, will we?"

"Our descendants?" Buffy asked, knowing full well what Angel was implying.

"Of course. Connor's going to need brothers and sisters to play with."

"I think we should talk about this...oh"

She was interrupted when Angel picked her up bridegroom style and headed up the stairs.

She reached over his shoulder and pointed toward the lobby. The doors locked and the lights went out automatically.

"Handy little gift you've got there," Angel said smiling his approval.

"You should see what else I can do," Buffy replied and kissed him to silence him.

Part 2

Cordelia's wedding at the Hyperion Hotel was simple but elegant. She could not have an all out open affair as she had always wanted because of the concern for Connor's safety, however, Angel spared no expense on the wedding and it turned out perfect for his friend.

The threats against Connor continued and Cordy and Groo offered to stay and help, but Angel felt that it would be unfair to them to delay their honeymoon and their return to Pylea at this time because, according to the Powers as Buffy had been relayed to him, until he was old enough to be trained as a warrior and could defend himself, there would always be threats against Connor. Besides that, conditions in Pylea were still deteriorating without Groo.

The residents of the Hyperion lined up in the hotel lobby to say goodbye to Cordelia and Groo. Cordelia said her personal goodbye to each of them, Lorne, Fred, Gunn, Buffy and Angel who was holding his son.

When Cordelia reached her, Buffy was surprised when she was grabbed in a big hug. "He's my best friend, Buffy; I never had such a friend before. I'm leaving him in your hands; I know you will, but I'm telling you anyway, take good care of him, Buffy, he'll never betray you. I know you'll take good care of Connor, too. The Powers couldn't have chosen a better guardian than you."

"Thanks, Cordy, I'll do my best; much success and happiness to you."

"It's not like we won't see each other again. You're coming to visit too, right?"

"I wouldn't miss it."

They hugged again.

By the time she reached Angel and Connor, Cordy was fighting hard to hold back the tears. Angel passed the baby to her without a word.

"I hate having to say goodbye to you two," she told Angel; "you have been my friend longer than anyone else. You and Connor are my real family and I love you both."

"We love you, too, Cordy," Angel said as he squashed Connor and her in a hug.

Groo followed Cordy down the line shaking hands and saying goodbye to his new friends. When he reached the end of the line, he whispered to Cordelia, "It's time, princess."

With that Lorne opened the portal and Cordy and Groo stepped through. "I'm going to miss those two," the green demon said as he turned away to keep the others from seeing his tears. Angel and Fred made no effort to hide their own tears.

Part 3

Things quieted down greatly at the Hyperion and life was comparably simple after the confrontation with Eero was over and Cordy and Groo had left for Pylea. Buffy knew it was time to pay Lilah another visit and she hoped she wouldn't have to make permanent arrangements for the Wolfram and Hart attorney.

She found Lilah sitting alone in her room in the middle of the afternoon. She touched Lilah's temple briefly and spoke her name softly and said, "Why aren't you in the entertainment room with the others? They seem to be enjoying themselves."

"I don't deserve to be with them; they don't know what I've done. You don't know what I've done," Lilah said looking up at Buffy with sad eyes; "I deserve to be right where I am, right where you put me."

"Why do you think that."

"Gods, slayer, over and over I saw everything I've done since I became an employee at that dreadful company. It was sickening; I deserve this punishment for the things I've done and for not heeding your warnings regarding Angel and his son.

"How could I have become this person in the few short years that I've worked for them? I was never like this before; I used to be a decent person. I used to be happy and carefree; I had friends and I enjoyed life. What happened to me?"

She covered her face with her hands. "How could I have sunk so low?"

"Lilah, look at me," Buffy said as she removed Lilah's hands from her face and looked into her eyes. She was surprised at what she saw. There was no trace of the rude and arrogant woman that she met a few weeks earlier; instead she saw a tortured soul that deeply regretted her past deeds.

"What happened, Lilah? Why the change of heart?"

"When I saw you leave, I was furious. The next thing I knew I was trapped in my own mind. I saw every evil deed, heard every bad thought and every ugly word. Gods, Buffy, it was revolting. I was seeing someone that I didn't even recognize and the longer I looked the worse things got. I don't know how long I stayed like that. How long have I been here?"

"Six days."

"Only six days? It feels like I've been here for months."

"No, only six days. I wanted to give you time to think about your life and the person you've become."

"When I was finally in my right mind again, I knew that I could never go back to being the person I had become."

"Glad to hear it," Buffy told her, and she was – glad to see that, now that Lilah was in complete control of her own soul, she was a completely different person than the one Buffy met a few short weeks before.

Lilah next words caught Buffy completely by surprise; they were words she never expected to hear from Lilah's lips.

"Please help me, slayer; I promise you I will change my ways and I will never again go after Connor and Angel. Please help me find myself again."

Lilah sounded desperate as tears ran down her face and lapped under her chin. If this had been the Lilah from a week ago, Buffy would have been very suspicious of her; but she wasn't. Looking into the haunted eyes of the woman in front of her, Buffy knew she was not pretending.

"I think you just did."

"Oh, gods, I have to get away from that company, but how do I do that? I signed away my soul."

Lilah sounded desperate.

"What? You still don't get it, do you? You don't work for them anymore. I own your contract. I told you that before."

"You mean I could walk away from that job at any time? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I thought I'd let you figure that one out on your own," Buffy said with a smirk on her lips.

"Thank you. Thank you so much. I don't want to be that person that I've seen since I've been here; how can anyone love me, how...oh gods...Wesley...how can Wesley love me?" Lilah stuttered as tears threatened again.

"What about Wesley?"

"I love Wesley," she said before she realized it. "I didn't mean to say that."

"Why not?"

"He's a descent guy; how could he stand to look at me?"

"Maybe when he looks at you, he sees the real you, the one that you buried when you went to work for Wolfram and Hart."

"My mother," Lilah took a deep breath in. "we have to get my mother out of that place; she is not the kind of person that can survive there."

"I don't think we have to worry about your mother. Get your things. Why don't you go to see her? You're being released today."

"I am?" She hugged Buffy.

"Slayer, I will never forget you for this," she said as she ran around the room gathering her belongings.

As she did so, Buffy thought to herself, 'No, Lilah, the minute you walk out the front door, you will not remember me at all.'

Lilah found a group of the institution's personnel waiting to say goodbye to her as she approached the front desk. Each one hugged her and wished her well. Lilah was overwhelmed by the gesture. She found her car where she remembered leaving it and sped away to Wolfram and Hart to see her mother.

Mrs. Morgan was just getting ready to leave the office to come pick her up from the institution. "Why didn't you wait for me, dear?" she asked.

"I couldn't stay there another minute, mother; as soon as I was released I wanted to get away so I could see you." She hugged her mother. "Mom we have to get away from here, both of us, we need to get away and stay away from Wolfram and Hart."

"What made you change your mind about this job?"

"I don't know, I guess I just had an eye-opening experience, call it an epiphany if you will, even if I don't remember what it was."

"What will you live on?"

"I'm still an attorney and a good one; I'm sure I can get another job."

Lilah and her mother walked out of Wolfram and Hart that day and never returned. The next morning she called Wesley. He was happy to hear from her and he was more than happy to hear that both she and her mother had quit their jobs at the evil law firm.

Part 4

After Giles somehow got Faith released from prison and she moved into Buffy's old room, he functioned as Faith's watcher until Wesley was well enough to assume that responsibility. Wesley and Faith performed well together as they worked to keep Sunnydale safe.

Wesley and Lilah married and had a family while he remained Faith's watcher.

When Wesley officially became Faith's watcher, Giles was free to return to London where he rejoined the Watchers Council. Willow accepted an offer to attend Giles' Alma mater on a full scholarship.

Xander was eventually able to become owner of his own construction company which he moved to LA after he and Anya were married. Recalling how helpful she had been with Eero, Buffy and Angel invited Anya to join AI; she was pleased by the invitation and turned out to be a very valuable resource.

Angel and Buffy married three months after Cordy and Groo left LA for Pylea; they immediately started adoption proceedings so that Buffy would be Connor's mother; together they had four other children, two boys and two girls.

Gunn and Fred also married and had children while still working for Angel Investigations.

Demons of all sorts came after Connor. Some were sent by Wolfram and Hart, however none were successful as his guardian angel and his father along with Gunn, Fred, Lorne and Anya formed a formidable defense team.

True to their promise after their vow of protection, Cibor and his clan were never seen again while Buffy was alive, however, on more than one occasion, she was sure that she felt their presence protecting them during intense battles and she was certain that Cibor and the clan elders showed up for Connor's wedding.

As Angel aged, Buffy could not convince him to stay out of the battles to protect their family; even though he retained some of his vampire attributes, he was still human; his death preceded hers when he fell in battle. Only the rage that she felt over the loss of her husband carried her through the end of the fight, but she succumbed soon after.

From the higher realms Buffy and Angel saw Cibor and all of his clan when they came for her funeral; they heard him and the elders speak with reverence and gratitude for the guardian angel who was a legend among them and the savior of their clan.

Just as the head slayer had told Buffy years before, Connor became an awesome warrior for the Powers; his guardian angel had done her job well. The prophesies regarding Connor that had been revealed to Lilah eventually came true. After the deaths of his parents, he and his siblings continued in their fight to protect the earth from evil.

The end


End file.
